Valve control



-Ju1y'30,1940. WA. HARRIS Em 2,209,565

VALVE CONTROL Filed Feb. 21, 1936 :s sheets-sheet 1 Fig 3 1Q Fr? 1 55;/

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VALVE CONTROL Filed Feb. 21, 1936 3 vSheets-Sheet 2 July 30, 1940.- w.A. HARRIS er AL.

vALvE CONTROL Filed Feb. 21. 1'936 3 sheets-sheet 3 INVENTOR.

Patented July 3o, 1940 I' UNITED STATES 2,209,565 vALvE com-noi. williamA. nui-n, minne, ne charles w. van

Blaroom, Boonton, N. dooraulic. Inc., Orange,

o! New Jersey J., assigner to Ily- N.AJ., a. corporation Applicationrem-um 2i, loss, serial No. 65,130 1 mim. (ci. io-52) This inventionrelates to an improvement in valve controls, and more particularlyforcontrolling large gate valves and other closures requiring likeoperators.

In operating large gate valves of the type used, for instance in afiltration plant, considerable power is required in'order to move thevalves, and usually they must be operated from a remote p oint, andprovision should be made to indicate the extent of operation, so that itmay be deter- Vmined at any time in what position the valve is set andto what extent it is open or closed.

This invention has as its objects the control of closures, such as largegate valves, by power obtained. for instance, from a hydraulic powerdevice, and the provision of automatic means for controlling 'thehydraulic power devices andV for regulating the flow of uid to and fromthe same. This invention provides for such automatic control and issimple initiate, and when operated, it willmove the closure to an openor closed position automatically and then stop the movement in either oisaid positions according to thedirection inwhich the movement isinitiated. It is very eiective in the controlof large closures whereconsiderable power is required for moving the same.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a. side elevation of the control mechas nism applied to a gatevalve; l

Fig. 2 is a top plan View ofthe control mechanism, enlarged;

Fig. 3 is an end elevation thereof, looking tcward the left.

Fig. 4 is a side elevation thereof;

Fig. 5 is a side elevation oi' a portion oi the four-way control valvemechanism in one operat lng position;

Fig. 5A is a horizontal section on the line A--A of Fig. 5;

Figs..5B, 5C and 5D are sectional views through the four-way controlvalve in di'erent positions;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged longitudinal vertical sectional view through thepilot cylinder and solenoid valves, taken on the line B--B oi Fig. 2;

Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic view of the wiring layout;

Fig. 8 is an enlarged sectional view of one of the pilot flap-valves,and

Fig. 9 is a schematic lay-out illustrating pump, cylinders, valves andpipe connections.

The invention is shown and described for operating a large gate valve.Referring to Fig. 1.

ythe valve stem 2 -pipe i8 to its end of pilot cylinder 2i'.

the gate valve is designated generally by the numeral I, and has a valvestem 2 extending -there'- from for slidably moving the valve discs fromone extreme position to another, the opposite end oi' in a powercylinder 4. The piston is reciprocated in the cylinder l by liquid fluidadmitted into one end of the cylinder or the other, according to thedirectionoi movement desired for the gate valve. Fluid is supplied tothe opposite ends oi the cylinder 4 by pipes E and 6, (Fig. 4) whichextend from opposite sides o! a four-way valve 1, shown in Figs. 5B, 5Cand 5D. The liquid uid is sup-f plied from the valve l through thepipesi and t, alternately, to `the ends oi' the cylinder l.

`Liquid fluid is `supplied to the valve 'l through a pipe 8v from oneside of a gear or other type o! pressure pump 9, operated by anelectric' motor i. The pump 9 receives liquid uid through a pipe H froma reservoir l2. The other side of the four-way valve 'l has a uid returnpipe I3. extending therefrom to the reservoir i2,`for the return ofiiuid from either end of the. cylinder il to the reservoir, as indicatedby the arrows in Figs. 5B and 5D. 7

The iiuid supply pipe a has a by-pass I4 connected therewith andextending to valves .l5

and I6, shown in Fig. 6, which valves are normally closed by gravity,but are carried on armatures il and I8, respectively, of electro-magnetsi9 and 20, so that when either of the electro-magnets is energized, thecorresponding valve will be raised from its seat and held open for theiiow of liquid uid in one direction from the'by-pass Pipes X and Yextend from opposite ends of cylinder 2l and passage of :duidtherethrough is directed and controlled by valves i5 and it,respectively. A piston 22 is operatively mounted in the cylinder 2l andis moved by the liquid iuid, the piston having a piston rod 23 thereon,extending through one end of the cylinder and carrying at its outer enda cross bar 2t, shown in Figs., 5, 5A and s. l

The opposite end of the cross bar te, has one end of a link 25 attachedthereto, the opposite with the free end of valve arm 2, which operatesthe valve 1 to the positions shown in Figs. 5B, .'50` and 5D, accordingto the positions oi' the pilot piston 22, in its cylinder 2i, thesepositions representing the positions 6i the four-way valve 'i for theopening, neutral and closing actions of the gate valve i.

The pivot 26 also has one end oi 'a link 2@ conbeing attached to apiston 3 B end of which link 25 has a pivot 2li connecting" it nectedtherewith, the opposite end of which link is connected with an arm 23,pivotaliy mounted at one end, as at 33, and having its opposite endconnected by a spring 3| to a pair of spring ing of snap switches 32 and33, as. shown vin Figs. 5 and 5A, the purpose of which will be describedhereinafter.

A slidably mount d stop rod fixed to the cross bar 24 and its oppositeend carries spaced stops 35 and 36, between which stops is arranged anarm 31 carried by a rod 33, attached to the power piston 3 and extendingthroughl the outex` end of the cylinder 4.

Fig. '1 represents the wiring diagram, in which the main line -from thesource of electrical supply is designated generally by the numeral 39,one lead of which extends to one side of the motor I0 and solenoids I5and 2li, the opposite lead of which extends to switches and 4I, by whichthe currenttherethrough is controlled..

Operation Normallythe four-way valve and its associated operating partsare in neutral positions when the gate valve is fully open or fullyclosed. as indicated at n in Fig. 5C or at rest in any position 'betweenfull open and closed, and the gate valve is locked in that position bythe four-way valve.

The manually controlled switch 40 is shown closed in Fig. 1, whichcloses the circuit through the solenoid 2li, opening the valve I6, asrepresentedin Fig. 6, and also energizes the motor I0 to operate thegear pump 9 which forces liquid uid, such as oil of suitable character,from the reservoir I2, through the supply pipe 8 and bythe parts will bein neutral positions, the valve 1 being closed as represented 5C, andthe valve arm 21 being vertical, as represented by dotted lines, andthe. letter n in Fig. 5, but the opening of the electro-magnetcontrolled valve I6 causes fluid to be, forced therethrough from theby-pass pipe ifi into the right hand end'of the pilot cylinder 2i, inFig. 6, moving the piston 22 from a neutral position to the left handend of the cylinder as shown in Fig. 6. This movement of the piston 22and piston rod 23 draws the attached cross bar 24 back and the. latteracts through the connecting link 25 to turn the valve arm 21 from theneutral position n to the left hand position o, as shown in full linesin Fig. 5, .thereby opening the valve 1 to the position shown in Fig. 5Bthereby connecting pipes 5 and 8 and 5 and I3, respectively, wherebyfluid will be forced into the left hand end of the power cylinder It.

to cause movement of the power piston 3 shown in dotted lines in Fig. 4,to-the right for opening the gate valve, shown in Fig. l.

This movement of the pivot 26 causes the link itl to raise the arm 29,see Fig. 5, thereby closing he switches 32 and 33, the former of whichcloses the circuit to the motor and the switch 33 closes a circuit to anelectric light 42, shown in Fig. 7. The operator may release the pushbutton switch 4I! when the light 42 appears.

This same movement of the cross bar 24 to the left also moves the stoprod 34 to which it is attached with the stops 35 and 3E from thepositions n' and n", respectively, to the positions o and o, in Figs. 5and 5A, so that upon the openthe four-way valve 1 and the movement ofthe piston 3 shown in Fig. 4 to the right, the rod 38 and arm 31 movefrom'the full line positions to the dotted line positions in the openingof the gate valve. The arm 31 engages the stop zz and the piston rod :s

point at which the four-way valve 1 is in the neutral position as shownin .forcing the fluid from primary piston 3 'in lthe left as shown inFig. 4, to close the gate valve.

36 in the position o" in Figs. 5 and 5A, and moves it to the positionn", which movement of the stop 36 causes movement of the rod 34 to theright and with it, link 25 and valve arm 21, to return the four-wayvalve 1 to the neutral position n (Fig. 5C), locking the oil system` andthrough the link 28 and arm 29 permitting the spring snap switches 32and 33 to open, deenergizing the motor I0, inasmuch as the gate valvehas been moved to a fully open position. By mailing contact on thepush-button 4I and holding that contact, the electro-magnet I9 will beenergized, the valve I5 will be opened, and thus the piston will bemoved to the Fig. 5C, at which time the signal-lamp will go out,whereupon the push-button is to be released, and the piston 3 willremain in its then established position.

As valve lever 21 is being moved to position n, by the movement of rod34, this causes movement also of the pilot piston 22, which is likewiseattached to the cross bar 24, to a central position, the cylinder 2|,through flap-valve 43, which drops open of its own weight when theliquid flow in pipe Y is stopped, after solenoid 20 is deenergized andvalve I6 closes by gravityand the liquid is returned through the pipes44 and I3 to the reservoir I2. The flapvalve 43 is especially adapted sothat it will leak, and while it is engaged in the position in which itis shown in Fig. 8, it will merely direct the flow of fluid past thepipe 44 so that it will Iow through the pipe Y to apply its pressureagainst the piston 22.

' When the push button switch 4I is depressed, the operation isreversed, and four-way valve 1 is moved to position c in Fig. 5D,actuating the the opposite direction or to When switch 4I is depressed,the solenoid I9 would be energized to open the valve I5 and cause thepilot piston 22 to be moved to the right, and when solenoid I9 isdeenergized, due to valves I5 and 65 dropping by gravity, the liquidwould be returned from the pilot cylinder 2I through flap-valve 45 andpipes 44 and I3 to the reservoir I2.

A spring-pressed pressure relief valve 46 is connected with one side ofthe fluid pipe ii, as shown in Figs. 2 and 4, on the power side of thepump 9, so as to return fluid through by-pass 41, back to the reservoirI2, in the event of an obstruction which prevents the vclosing oropening of the gate valve, so that no damage will be done to the systemor, more important, to the gate valve.

Sustained pressure on the opposite push button switch lil or 4I at anypoint of the travel of the gate valve will stop the movement, inasmuchas the push-button energizes the other solenoid to move the pilot piston22 in the opposite direction, returning the four-way valve 1 to theneutral position, at which time the signal lamp goes out and the contactof the push-button is to be released. Pressure onl the wrong push buttonswitch when gate valve is open or closed can do no damage to the system,inasmuch as no action of the gate valve would occur by reason thereof.The motor would be energized and fluid would pass through relief valve46-and by-pass 41 back to reservoir I2. i

The push button switch should be held in any case long enough for thesolenoid to be energized to cause movement of the pilot piston, crossbar,

and four-way valve to the desired operating posiit is desirable that anindicator be provided adja' cent the push button switches 4U and Ilwhich will also be located at the control station. To cause such anindication', we have provided an indicating instrument, such as avolt-meter Il, one side of which is connected directly with the mainline 39, and the opposite side of which is connected through a movablecontact 4l ot a rheostat 5B, which movable contact varies the resistancein the volt-meter circuit according to the movement of the contact 49.

The rheostat i@ is mounted adjacent the power cylinder 4, as shown inFigs. 2 and 4, and is adapted to be actuated by a rod 5I, slidable inguides 52 on the frame structure. A lever I8 is pivoted as at 54 on theframework and has one end thereof-received in a pivoted sleeve orbetween spaced pins 55 on the rod BI, and the opposite end thereof isreceived between spaced pins 56, on the arml, so as to move the rodvalve opening, such as 5i and the movable contact 48, in accordance withand in the same ratio as the movement of the rod 3l attached to thepower piston l, although in the opposite direction. The dial of thevoit-meter Il may be calibrated in inches, so as to indicate the extremepositions oi' movement of the gate valve, either open or closedaccording to the variation of the rheostat ll. In -other words when thegate valve is closed, as shown in full lines in Figs. l and 4, thevoltmeter will read O, or when thesate valve is i'ully open, asindicated in dotted lines in Fig. 4,v

the reading would indicate the size of the sate power device.

20 inches tor instance,-

and during such opening movement the voltmeter would read, for instance,one inch. vtwo inches, etc., and reverse this 4reading on the closingmovement; 'Oi course other forms oi' remote controls and indicators maybe used instead of the volt-meter, but 'the latter has been foundsatisfactory and gives accurate results even where there is somevlcurrent iluctnation.`

While the invention has been described and illustrated in connectionwith a gate valve, it will be obvious that the power mechanism may beused for operating or controlling other types of closures, such as,doors, gates, valves, dampers, ventilators, machine controls, presses,etc.

We claim:

In a control system of the character described, the combination of ahydraulic double-acting power device, a motor driven pump/for supplyingpressure liquid to said power-device, a four-way valve for regulatingthe direction oi ilow of said liquid to said power device and having aneutral position in which it prevents ilow to and from said device, afollow-up connection between said power device and said four-way valvetor returning said valve to neutral position as the power device reacheseither end oi' its stroke, independent hydraulically actuated means foroperating said four-way `valve, electrically operated pilot valvescontrolling the direction of ow of liquid to the four-way valveoperating means.' a pair of switches, each switch concurrentlycontrolling the electric circuit for one of said pllotvalves and forsaid pump motor, electric signal means and a holding circuit for saidpump motor energized by said four-way valve when said valve leavesneutral. position, and calibrated electric means continually indicatingthe position oi.' said

